Profits Rise At UK's Brooks Macdonald

Editorial Staff

16 March 2020

, the UK wealth manager, has reported an 8.1 per cent year-on-year rise in revenues, at £55.8 million ($68.9 million) in the six months to end-2019, driven by higher funds under management.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose by 28.6 per cent to £11.7 million, producing a 21 per cent profit margin, widening from 17.6 per cent a year before. The margin widened in the UK wealth management, international and financial planning arms.

At the end of last year total funds under management stood at £13.1 million, against £11.7 billion a year before.

During the reporting period Brooks Macdonald bought Cornelian Asset Managers Group.

(Editor’s note: these results look positive, especially the improved profits margin. An issue from the vantage point of mid-March 2020, when stock markets have been hammered by the COVID-19 virus, is whether revenues from funds under management will hold up or not. When the asset-gathering side of a business is so important, it demonstrates why strong nerves are going to be needed when analysts consider what markets will do to the figures.)